Back in the weights room, surrounded by equipment that I couldn’t name under the threat of death, I was tortured by two assholes.Logan and Noah took turns working out and barking orders at me, handing me weight after weight, all the while counting repsof suffering. Most of my time was spent breathing, internally crying, and imagining all the ways I’d destroy them when I figuredout my powers.
“For you to be strong enough to handle your powers, you need to be physically stronger,” Logan barked at me, while Noah bench-pressedthe equivalent of a small car nearby.
“There’s literally no evidence of that,” I huffed as my arm shook. “I might be a nature sprite, and need to be gentle.”
Logan shook his head. “Do you even pay attention in class? All affinities are built from a similar source of power. From themagic of our ancestors, the world around us, and the dead realms. How it emerges from our bodies depends on genetics and fate,but all of us need the same strengths. Even the sprites, gentle as they may be, are strong enough to call the wild creatures.”
Fucker.I hated when he made sense. I preferred to argue with him. Us agreeing went against the laws of the very nature we drew powerfrom.
When they were satisfied that the physical torture was complete for the day, he gave me ten minutes for water and a sandwich,but my stomach was churning, and I couldn’t bring myself to take a bite. “You need to eat, Precious,” Logan said, demolishinghis three sandwiches. Noah had four.
I leveled him with my best glare, hoping I wasn’t as green as I felt. “Should have thought of that before you made me do burpees.I think I’d prefer you to bring the monsters back to kill me next time.”
His eyes flashed mossy, but he didn’t say anything as he nudged the plate toward me. I managed two bites before we moved onto the next part of the training: affinities. One by one, he used his power to draw out mine, as he’d done those months agoin spellcaster lessons.
It worked too. When his energy drew on mine, I could touch all the elements strongly. I went from a small puff of air thatblew out a candle, to a tornado that almost took out the wall in the sparring room. Logan and Noah got that fixed up, andthen we moved on.
“How the Hel do you do this to my power?” I held a large ball of fire in my hand.
Logan withdrew his energy and I watched the flame die down into a flicker. Without the key, the magic was dulled. My new aim for the week was to find a key that wasn’t Logan Kingston.
“I don’t get it,” I said, slumping to the padded mats with a groan. The weights were an hour of torture, but the affinitylessons might have been even worse. “Have you ever heard of another who needed this sort of key to unlock their power?”
Logan and Noah stood over me, looking as if they could train for the rest of the day and not break a sweat. If I hadn’t beencompletely destroyed, I’d be embarrassed by my general lack of stamina and muscles.
“I’ve never heard of it,” Noah said with a shrug. “But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened before. It might not be common,but it also isn’t impossible. You’re living proof.”
Logan crouched down until we were eye level. “You’re a puzzle,” he said. “You were when you were four, and you remain so now.Don’t expect to fit in the same slot as everyone else.” He straightened abruptly, and I refused to admit that I missed theheat of his energy. “But you’re also woefully underdeveloped in magic and muscle. You need to strengthen every part of yourself.Training again on Wednesday, don’t make us track you down.”
As they strolled off and left me a sweaty puddle, I knew that if I tried to get out of this again, the next time, I wouldn’tbe escorted quite so politely.
Chapter 32
That night as I crawled into bed, muscles aching in places that I didn’t even know had muscles, I tried to get comfortableenough to sleep. Those bastards were master torturers, and I wondered if I’d survive our next training on Wednesday.
The air through my open window was cool. I enjoyed the change of season as we headed for fall and the end of the year. I wasno closer to finding my affinity, but I’d grown a lot as a witch since the day I first walked through Weatherstone’s gates.Grown, but there was a part of me that felt more lost than ever before.
Especially about Logan.
Dad’s fears regarding the spellcaster might not have come to fruition, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t completely impactedmy year anyway. He was still a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, or however the idiom went. He was a stranger,and yet our energies worked together as if we were the best friends he ironically called us.
Were we still enemies? I had no idea.
We certainly weren’t friends, but maybe we’d evolved into friendly enemies? There was no creepy chill down my spine aroundLogan, but there was a scorching energy that completely messed with my internal composure.
If I hadn’t been borrowing our fathers’ war, I would have known long ago that it wasn’t Logan’s magic creating themonsters. I’d felt it enough now to recognize the subtle tendrils, tinted in a dark untraceable energy. Logan’s power was as blazing as the summer sun, and as dangerous if you got too close.
He didn’t hide in shadows; he had no need to.
Rolling over in bed, I hugged the pillow against me, and tried not to mope over the fact that I wasn’t wearing his hoodie.I’d been angry at his arrogant handling during our training, but now I missed the soft lengths against my skin.
Eventually I drifted off, the cool breezes caressing my face as I snuggled deep in the bed. Sleep was restful until my mindshifted into the dreamscape.
His mouth pressed against mine, and as our tongues tangled I wondered if I would die from the heady taste of the warlock.He was dominant, demanding control, demanding everything. My body thrummed as he stroked his hands along my sensitive skin,and I felt the brush of the thick head of his cock poised at my entrance. He pushed slowly inside me, spreading my pussy toits limits with his size. “Logan,” I sobbed, shifting my legs so they were wider apart, giving him the access he demanded.
“Shhh, Precious,” he murmured. “Don’t fight me any longer.”
That sentence settled uneasily. I hadn’t fought Logan for months. As he slid until he was fully seated, I moaned and completelyforgot that thought.
